My Big Fatgeek Recipes!

Archive for the ‘Vegan’ Category

One of the foods my oldest daughter misses from our BV (before Vegan) days is macaroni and cheese. I’ve bought vegan mac and cheese foods, different “cheese sauces” etc and she’s been less than impressed. (My other daughter doesn’t like mac and cheese so she usually doesn’t vote, lol) So, the other day we thought we’d try it with Daiya Cheddar shreds. It actually turned out well. She loved it and ate it with shall we say “gusto”. ~_^

2-3 Tbsp Earth Balance

1/4-1/3 cup wheat pastry flour

1-2 cups (depending on how thick you want your sauce) UNSWEETENED, unflavored non dairy milk (I keep Westsoy Pantry Packs in the house for this)

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp mustard powder

1/2 tsp seas salt

fresh black pepper to taste

1 cup Daiya Cheddar Shreds

1/2 lb macaroni pasta uncooked

So start out, making your pasta to package directions (don’t forget to salt the water), then start making a roux with the Earth Balance and flour. When it starts to smell nutty, slowly mix in the soy milk whisking the whole time. Now add the rest of the ingredients (except the pasta) and whisk until the Daiya is melted. Now I needed to thin mine a bit at this point so I put some of the hot pasta waster into it and it was fine. Mix in the pasta and enjoy! I’m thinking next time I’m going to make it with fresh broccoli. 

So I had  a serious craving for my dad’s potato soup the other day. I’ve never made this soup myself, never served it to the family, and haven’t had it in years but I had a fairly good idea of how my dad made it. So I kind of had to guesstimate it, replace the bacon with TVP bacon and hope for the best.
1 large onion diced
3-4 large celery stalks chopped
1/2 cup TVP Bacon divided in half
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp Mrs Dash Garlic and Herb
1 TBSP Mrs Dash original
5lbs potato peeled and diced
8 cups of non-chicken broth or vegetable broth (I made broth from the Better than Bouillon  No Chicken Base)
1 8oz can of coconut milk or about a cup of unsweetened unflavored non-dairy milk
salt and pepper to taste
So I took my big cast iron dutch oven, heated it to about medium, added a little olive oil (veg or canola would work too) then threw in the onion, celery garlic and half the TVP. Then I just let it do that sweating thing. Toss in the seasonings while you’re at it. This is when I stated the peeling and chopping of the potatoes and heating the water cooker to make up the broth. ~_^ Toss in the potatoes, remaining TVP and cover with the broth and let cook until the potatoes are tender. Then take a potato masher and mash a bit of the potatoes. Not to many. This is potato soup not mashed potato soup but this will thicken the soup without the need of thickeners. Mix in the milk, rewarm and serve.
I was out of vegan cheese so I didn’t get to try that yet, but I bet its fabulous! My girls liked it with a bit of earth balance and a little sprinkling of TVP for crunch. Hubs liked it with dairy sharp cheddar.

Super Yum!
I ♡ soup!
This was just something I threw together yesterday for the fridge. (quick meals)
1 large onion, chopped
4-6 cloves of garlic sliced
3 large carrots, chopped (I like them cut into thin half moon shapes)
3-4 celery stalks, chopped (I had the centers, so it was probably a little more) don’t forget the leaves are edible!
3 small potatoes, peeled and diced
1 package froze chopped spinach
8 c vegetable stock or Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base reconstituted.
1 15oz can of diced tomatoes

In a skilled with a little olive oil saute` onion, celery, and carrots. When veg begins to soften add garlic. Place potatoes, spinach (no need to defrost) and half of stalk in crock pot and set to high. Add sauteed veg and cover with remain stock. Cook for about 3 hrs or until potatoes are soft. Add tomatoes and serve. This made a huge amount! So I will have leftovers for a couple days.

I like to make a batches of things to keep in the fridge. A batch of soup, a couple pounds of beans I cooked up, rice, pasta etc. This makes throwing together lunch and dinner extremely easy. With the beans we’ll throw together burritos, beans and rice, quesadilla, tacos, chili, soup etc. Rice to add to soups, chilies, fried rice etc. Pasta for the same reasons as rice, soups, pasta tossed with steamed veg and vegan Parmesan, vegan mac and cheese, etc. And batches of soup for a heat and eat meal. ~_^ I suggest going to the dollar store and picking up a few large Tupperware and make your life easier too.

If you aren’t vegan, a couple great e-books I would recommend (because I used them until I stopped eating animal product) are Crystal Miller’s (of the Family Homestead) Freezer Cooking with Meal Starters or 30 Day Gourmet Big Book of Freezer Cooking.